Learning American Sign Language: Books, Media, and Classes

This Info to Go document, compiled at the Clerc Center, connects to resources about learning ASL, including where to find ASL classes.

About Learning ASL

American Sign Language (ASL) is visual language used by members of the North American Deaf community. ASL has its own unique rules of grammar and syntax. The shape, placement, and movement of the hands, as well as facial expressions and body movement, all play an important role in conveying information. ASL is not a universal language; similar to spoken languages, signed languages develop naturally in their own regions or countries.

Enrolling in sign language classes and meeting people who are deaf and use ASL, are the best ways to learn the language. These approaches will enhance the learning experience and provide opportunities to practice and develop fluency in a conversational setting. There are on-line resources, books, and other media, however that can support ASL learning.

Locating Classes: American Sign Language

Many sign language classes are offered throughout the country. While it is not possible to keep records of all locations, we can recommend that you check with places most likely either to offer classes or have information about them:

Community colleges/universities

Libraries (some libraries are clearing houses for community activities)

Adult education/continuing education programs

Vocational rehabilitation services (most states have a coordinator of services for individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing)

Recreation and community centers (YWCA, YMCA)

State and county department of public instruction, education, or special education

Religiously affiliated organizations

State schools for children who are deaf

Interpreters for people who are

Organizations/groups by, and for, individuals who are deaf

State offices/commissions for individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing

The annual reference issue of the American Annals of the Deaf includes a comprehensive list of schools for deaf students and services for deaf people. These schools and programs would be good contacts for question about the availability of sign language classes. Check your library for a copy or contact: American Annals of the Deaf.

Standards for learning ASL that cover expected skills development from kindergarten through 12th grade. Includes viewing, published signing, discourse and presentation, language, fingerspelling and fingerreading (similar to ELA standards for reading, writing and publishing, speaking and listening, and language). Anchor standards for viewing include ASL literature, ASL informational texts, and ASL foundational skills.

Organization focusing on developing and providing ASL resources to support curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Resources are curated by a team of ASL teachers, professors, administrators, specialists, and researchers from multiple states.

List of assessments focusing on sign language skills. Includes American Sign Language as well as other sign languages, organized into four categories: L1 development, L2 learning, linguistic research, and cognitive development.

List of apps to teach signing developed at the New Mexico School for the Deaf. It includes apps for children, adults, and low vision/blind children, to teach the manual alphabet and support literacy, and books to download.

ASL Connect leverages the latest in video and digital technology to provide a rich suite of online offerings available to the public. These offerings include ASL levels one through four online, an ASL certificate program, a nationally used ASL Placement Test, ASL coaching and individualized tutoring, massive open online course (MOOC)-style lessons, and a resource center that serves as a clearinghouse for information about ASL and Deaf Culture.

This subscription-based website provides ASL video lessons. The content is for anyone who wishes to learn ASL, regardless of age. It has been designed to instruct deaf students, parents of deaf children, and the community-at-large. You may cancel your subscription at any time. Nationally certified interpreters teach all lessons.

Free loan library funded by the U.S. Department of Education and supported by the National Association of the Deaf. This educational media is made accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing via captioning and to the blind and visually impaired via description. DCMP requires verified registration for full access but there are no registration or service fees.

A sign language and Deaf culture educational series with 150 chapters and over 15 hours of video content. It covers a wide range of topics including science vocabulary, geography signs, and Deaf history and signing with babies and children.

A collaborative project of The Signing Time Foundation, and the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management (NCHAM) at Utah State University. Free access to Sign It ASL is made possible through support from various private foundations and the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau. It is an onlinecurriculum to introduce ASL to parents of young children. Go to directly to the website, please visit http://signitasl.com/.

Links to resources (online and in other media forms) to facilitate ASL development with young children through Baby Signing Time and Signing Time for children. Included is a video series that teaches ASL signs for common words, questions, phrases, movements, colors, sports, days of the week, everyday objects, and common activities. It incorporates music with signs, songs, animation, and real signing children for everyday events like playtime, getting dressed, going places, getting ready for bed, and manners.

Signing Savvy is a sign language dictionary containing several thousand high resolution videos of American Sign Language (ASL) signs, fingerspelled words, and other common signs used within the United States and Canada. Signing Savvy includes the ability to build custom word lists and share them with others, create virtual flash cards and quizzes, print signs, build sign phrases, and much more!

Three-volume set of instructional videos with an accompanying workbook for teaching ASL to families. Volume one teaches signs and techniques for everyday conversations with a young deaf child; volume two teaches parents how to sign abstract concepts encountered daily by deaf toddlers, such as "funny," "soft," and "sticky," and volume three teaches how to use signs for praising and effectively disciplining a young deaf child.

Videos and photos sharing narratives of family, childhood, and community experiences with American Sign Language and other sign languages. Contributors share their stories with the public via Why I Sign's Facebook and Instagram platforms using the hashtag #whyisign.

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